Crime & Safety

Judge Denies Bail for South Jersey Native Charged in LAX Shootings

A preliminary hearing was set for Dec. 18. Paul Ciancia was not asked to enter a plea during his initial court appearance on Wednesday.

The Pennsville native charged with murder in connection with the shooting at Los Angeles International Airport last month has been deemed a flight risk and a danger to the community by a magistrate judge who denied his bail request on Wednesday.

Paul Ciancia, 23, was ordered “detained,” meaning he will be held without bond, during his initial court appearance on Wednesday, according to the United States Attorney’s Office out of the Central District of California (Los Angeles). 

The ruling came one day after federal prosecutors filed a request to have Ciancia remain in custody until his trial, claiming he is a flight risk, according to ktla.com.

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Magistrate Judge David T. Bristow scheduled Ciancia’s preliminary hearing for Dec. 18. That hearing will take place unless an indictment is handed down before then. An arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 26.

He was not asked to enter a plea during the hearing, which was designed to determine if he was apprised of his rights and if he had seen the complaint filed against him, according to the Attorney’s Office. He was represented by a public defender.

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The appearance was held in a room at the West Valley Detention Center, a San Bernardino County jail facility where he is being held in federal custody. The room in which the hearing was held usually hosts parole hearings and criminal identification lineups, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Ciancia is the subject of a federal complaint charging him with the murder of a federal officer and commission of violence in an international airport in connection with the Nov. 1 shooting death of TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez.

He faces the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty for each count.

He had been hospitalized in critical condition following a shootout with police after the shooting, but was released into the custody of the U.S Marshals Service on Nov. 19.

Ciancia attended Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del., where a classmate said Ciancia was bullied in 2008.



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